Page 29 of Read Between The Lines

‘I know you do. I told you I was going to mess this up and make you get all annoyed with me. All I meant was that you look like sunshine, and I’m concerned that this might be an evening full of clouds.’

My stomach gave a surprised little flip. I wasn’t sure how to react to that.

I went for a simple, ‘Thanks.’

He cleared his throat and made a show of checking his watch. Was the great Leo Taylor actually embarrassed?

‘The sad thing, Leo, is that every time a woman leaves the house, and all too often when she’s still in it, the “what if” thought crosses her mind. The mad axe murderer phrase is the one we usually deploy to add some humour to what is, unfortunately, a genuine fear. But this isn’t a surprise to you, is it?’

He avoided meeting my gaze. Were my words bringing back memories of cases he’d worked on? He remained quiet.

‘Having worked for the police, you probably know all about the bad things that can happen to people.’

His nod was reluctant. We were definitely on sensitive territory here. I was more convinced than ever that there was something deeper to his departure from the police than merely an ambition to be his own boss.

‘Which is why I really think we’d be better sticking to the trapping him online plan,’ he tried one last time.

‘But I’m not going into this alone,’ I reminded him. ‘You’ll be there too. Won’t you?’

Leo sighed. ‘Seeing as you’re determined to go through with this, you leave me with no choice. I still think this is a seriously bad idea.’

‘You could at least try a little optimism.’ Goodness knows I could do with it. His cynical attitude was making me even more nervous about the event.

‘I can’t, it gives me indigestion,’ he said.

‘Okay, well, let’s agree on how we’re going to handle the event before we walk down there. Will that make you feel any better? Why don’t you come in for a few minutes?’

I didn’t wait for him to respond as I went back inside. After a moment’s hesitation, he followed me and perched awkwardly on the armchair, making my living space feel even smaller than usual.

‘I think we should pretend we don’t already know each other, and if we need to communicate during the evening, we can text,’ I suggested. ‘Nobody will pay any attention to people checking their phones regularly. You’ll need to try to bring the conversations around to dodgy app experiences during your speed dates, and I’ll keep my ears open for Brian and attempt to work out if the guys are really who they say they are.’

‘And what will you do if you happen to recognise Brian’s voice?’

I hesitated, knowing that Leo was not going to find my answer satisfactory. ‘I thought I’d confront him and try to get him to confess, then call over a member of staff.’

‘You’ll have to do better than that.’ He leaned forward. ‘Look, I know you don’t like being told what to do, but will you take some advice from me?’

I nodded. ‘That’s why I hir— asked you to help me, after all.’

‘The objective this evening should be purely fact-finding. I know you’re keen to prevent him causing further harm, but we don’t want to rush things and risk him going to ground. So, I was thinking it might be best if you assume another persona while we’re there, as a safety net, if you will. Katherine is a common enough name, but your job is relatively unusual.’

‘We live in Oxford, remember. Trust me, there are more librarians around than you could possibly imagine.’

‘Fair enough,’ said Leo. ‘But I reckon it would give you an extra layer of security if you say you have another profession. You don’t want Brian to recognise you before you find him.’

‘There’s an obvious flaw in this plan, and that is that he’s seen my profile pictures. Brian knows exactly what I look like. I only left him a couple of voice notes– I find talking into the ether a bit awkward– but he might also recognise me from them.’

‘If you found it awkward, your voice probably reflected that, so it’s a slim chance. And everyone looks different in photos from real life.’

‘Rude. I hope you’re not suggestingIwas catfishinghim?’

‘Absolutely not, only that cameras see things differently to the human eye. Speaking of which…’ Leo nodded towards my glasses case on the mantelpiece. ‘None of your photos on the app show you wearing those, do they?’

‘No, but they’re hardly going to radically transform my appearance,’ I said.

‘And, if I remember correctly, your hair is down?’

‘I can put it up, but again, I’m still the same person.’

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